Cleaning apparatus, image holding apparatus, and image forming apparatus

Abstract

There is provided a cleaning apparatus having a cleaning member that makes contact with a surface of an image holder and vibrates due to friction arising when the surface of the image holder moves, the image holder bearing an electrostatic latent image developed using a developer having toner containing a crystalline resin, and a cleaning member support unit that supports the cleaning member and increases the amplitude of the vibration of the cleaning member.

1. A cleaning apparatus comprising:
 a cleaning member that makes contact with a surface of an image holder and vibrates due to friction arising when the surface of the image holder moves, the image holder bearing an electrostatic latent image developed using a developer having toner containing a crystalline resin; and 
 a cleaning member support unit that supports the cleaning member and increases the amplitude of the vibration of the cleaning member, 
 wherein a spring constant of the cleaning member support unit in a thickness direction is less than or equal to about 5 grams per millimeter. 
 
   
   
     2. A cleaning apparatus comprising:
 a cleaning member; and 
 a support member that supports the cleaning member so that the cleaning member makes contact with a surface of an image holder, the image holder bearing an electrostatic latent image developed using a developer having toner containing a crystalline resin, the cleaning member and the support member being substantially tabular members extending in the lengthwise direction of the image holder, a thickness of the support member being less than a thickness of the cleaning member, and a loss coefficient of the support member being smaller than a loss coefficient of the cleaning member, the loss coefficient being defined as a relative size of a loss modulus to a size of an elastic modulus, 
 wherein a spring constant of the support member in a thickness direction is less than or equal to about 5 grams per millimeter. 
 
   
   
     3. The cleaning apparatus according to  claim 2 , wherein
 the loss coefficient of the support member is less than or equal to about 10 −2 , and the loss coefficient of the cleaning member is greater than about 10 −2 . 
 
   
   
     4. The cleaning apparatus according to  claim 2 , wherein the cleaning member vibrates due to friction arising when the surface of the image holder moves. 
   
   
     5. An image holding apparatus comprising:
 an image holder; 
 a developing unit that develops an electrostatic latent image formed on a surface of the image holder using a developer having toner containing a crystalline resin; and 
 a cleaning unit having a cleaning member and a support member that supports the cleaning member so that the cleaning member makes contact with a surface of the image holder, the cleaning member and the support member being substantially tabular members extending in a lengthwise direction of the image holder, a thickness of the support member being less than a thickness of the cleaning member, and a loss coefficient of the support member being smaller than a loss coefficient of the cleaning member, the loss coefficient being defined as a relative size of a loss modulus to a size of an elastic modulus, 
 wherein a spring constant of the support member in a thickness direction is less than or equal to about 5 grams per millimeter. 
 
   
   
     6. The image holding apparatus according to  claim 5 , wherein
 the toner has a shape factor greater than or equal to about 120, the shape factor being defined by a following equation:
   shape factor=(absolute maximum length of toner diameter) 2 /(projected area of toner)×(π/4)×100. 
 
 
   
   
     7. The image holding apparatus according to  claim 5 , wherein the cleaning member vibrates due to friction arising when the surface of the image holder moves. 
   
   
     8. An image forming apparatus comprising:
 an image holder that rotates; 
 a charging unit that charges a surface of the image holder; 
 a latent image forming unit that forms a latent image on the surface of the image holder that has been charged by the charging unit; 
 a developing unit that develops an electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the image holder using a developer having toner containing a crystalline resin; 
 a transfer unit that transfers the image developed by the developing unit; and 
 a cleaning unit that cleans the surface of the image holder, the cleaning unit having a cleaning member and a support member that supports the cleaning member so that the cleaning member makes contact with the surface of the image holder, the cleaning member and the support member being substantially tabular members extending in a lengthwise direction of the image holder, a thickness of the support member being less than a thickness of the cleaning member, and a loss coefficient of the support member being smaller than a loss coefficient of the cleaning member, the loss coefficient being defined as a relative size of a loss modulus to a size of an elastic modulus, 
 wherein a spring constant of the support member in a thickness direction is less than or equal to about 5 grams per millimeter. 
 
   
   
     9. The image forming apparatus according to  claim 8 , further comprising
 a control unit that controls a rotational speed of the image holder during cleaning of the surface of the image holder by the cleaning unit to be slower than a rotational speed of the image holder during image formation performed through the charging, the latent image formation, the image developing, and the image transfer. 
 
   
   
     10. The image forming apparatus according to  claim 8 , wherein the cleaning member vibrates due to friction arising when the surface of the image holder moves.